Video Fix: What is the ACORN controversy?

Today’s Video Fix attempts to break down the ACORN controversy for everyone — what it’s about, what’s been said and what’s been done. Tell us what you think.

ACORN Controversy

What is it?: **Note: This is a lengthy post attempting to cull reports and, in particular, videos available on the Web.

Controversy surrounds ACORN once again. Videos apparently show ACORN employees giving advice to two conservative activists, posing as a pimp and prostitute, on how to trick tax authorities and not get caught. They were posted on conservative news site BigGovernment.com.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has been a controversial organization for some time. The group, according to its Web site, acts as an advocate for social and economic justice, but has long been opposed by some conservatives. Allegations of fraudulent activity have dogged the group, most notably in the recent presidential election, when some employees were charged with voter fraud.

The videos, created by James O’Keefe, who calls himself an activist filmmaker, and Hannah Giles, were secretly taken at ACORN offices in Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York, San Bernardino, Calif. and San Diego, Calif. At each location, O’Keefe and Giles said they needed assistance getting a house to operate a prostitution ring involving underage girls from South America.

Here is part of one of the undercover videos:

Here’s what O’Keefe had to say about his project during an interview with Fox:

Coverage spearheaded by Fox News and other cable news shows, which have scorned ACORN furiously for being allegedly corrupt, have led to quite a bit of controversy.

A handful of ACORN employees have been fired since the videos were revealed, according to the Associated Press, and actions have been taken in Washington. The Census Bureau announced this week that it was cutting ties with the group, which had been helping collect 2010 census data; senators voted Monday to keep HUD from issuing grants to the group; and on Thursday, the House voted to bar ACORN from receiving any federal funding. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also said the conduct seen on the tapes is “unacceptable” and said the Obama administration “takes accountability extremely seriously.”

Meanwhile, initial reactions from ACORN were defensive. ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson questioned the legitimacy of the tapes, saying that they were dubbed over to change the nature of the conversation. Levenson said the videos were deceptive and sent a letter asking FOX to stop showing the tapes. He also demanded that the original tapes be released to ACORN.

ACORN also threatened to sue Fox News, Web site Breitbart.com (which runs BigGovernment.com), O’Keefe and Giles. Lawyers for the group said undercover filming in Maryland and D.C. is a felony and that in showing the tapes, Fox would be a co-conspirator. Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s chief organizer, accused O’Keefe of doctoring the footage.

This week ACORN’s Lewis released a statement saying that the actions of some of the employees shown on the tape were “indefensible,” and on Wednesday ACORN announced that it was ordering an independent investigation of its employees. It also said that it would not be accepting new admissions into its community service programs.

Lewis’ interview with CNN:

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that ACORN was considering halting its voter-registration work because of the criticism surrounding its work.

Other objections

Thoughts?: Conservatives have also been criticizing mainstream news organizations for not reporting on the story, citing liberal bias.

Here is a debate on Lou Dobbs’ CNN program about whether the mainstream media failed in its coverage:

Here’s video of FOX’s Glenn Beck talking about how little the ACORN story has been covered by mainstream media:

Comic relief, maybe

And because it was such a lengthy post, here’s Jon Stewart talking about the ACORN controversy Tuesday night in spectacular fashion. He also calls out mainstream media for not breaking this story and letting “two kids from ‘High School Musical’” do it.

And as always, we like to hear feedback on what you’d like to see on the Video Fix. As well as featuring videos that are getting a lot of buzz around the Internet, which is the idea behind Video Fix, we try to keep things as varied as possible. If you’d like more local vids, sports vids, national news vids or other kinds of videos let us know. We want to hear your thoughts. Thanks!